Blog Impressed With Community Support, Musk Says He Will Visit Tulsa

Tulsa has Elon Musk’s attention.

The website tulsasaysyes.com enabled users to send a message aimed at the Tesla CEO on Twitter, encouraging him to build the automaker’s next factory in Tulsa.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt shared a tweet encouraging Oklahomans to help make “one final push.”

“Let’s make Oklahoma Cybertruck country,” tweeted Stitt, who was previously pictured with Musk at the SpaceX Demo-2 launch.

It seems the campaign worked, as Musk responded a few hours later saying he has “never seen this level of support” and that he “should at least visit” the city of Tulsa.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1278451464562753537

Austin has been viewed as the frontrunner for the new factory, but Tulsa continues to fight. The people behind tulsaysaysyes.com also built austinsaysno.com, which highlights objections to Tesla in Texas.

Travis County commissioners listened to public comments Tuesday on a possible incentive package for Tesla to build the factory in Austin. Tesla would receive about $14.7 million in property tax rebates over 10 years. Commissioners are expected to vote on the package next week.

Tesla plans to employ 5,000 workers at the new factory.

In the meantime, it will be interesting to see how Tulsa welcomes Musk, since they already unveiled a 75-foot-tall statue painted to resemble the billionaire founder.

 

[AMPd]

Tesla already purchased land in Austin. Game over

 

[TexasEV]

Tesla already purchased land in Austin. Game over

No, it has an OPTION on land just outside Austin. Tesla won't purchase the land until the county and school district approve the tax incentives. Both have held public hearings but haven't taken a vote yet.

There is a lot of support from the business community, as you can imagine, but there is also lots of opposition from the usual suspects-- Why should we give tax subsidies to a billion dollar company? We have more important needs in the community (Completely misunderstanding that the tax revenue doesn't exist unless Tesla builds the factory). Why should we support Tesla if they don't pay a high school graduate production worker a high enough salary so they can buy a median priced house? (Never mind that the existing job opportunities for them pay much less). Etc., etc.

 

[Earthpower]

Oklahoma would have destroyed Tesla had it begun there in the early years. Musk is rewarding this, now? The building will need to be earthquake proof like CA.

 

[Actaeon]

No, it has an OPTION on land just outside Austin. Tesla won't purchase the land until the county and school district approve the tax incentives. Both have held public hearings but haven't taken a vote yet.

There is a lot of support from the business community, as you can imagine, but there is also lots of opposition from the usual suspects-- Why should we give tax subsidies to a billion dollar company? We have more important needs in the community (Completely misunderstanding that the tax revenue doesn't exist unless Tesla builds the factory). Why should we support Tesla if they don't pay a high school graduate production worker a high enough salary so they can buy a median priced house? (Never mind that the existing job opportunities for them pay much less). Etc., etc.

Corporate tax breaks cost U.S. schools billions of lost revenue: report

Corporate tax breaks cost U.S. schools billions of lost revenue: report

 

[Grant]

Oklahoma is one of the dumbest states in the country and has some of the worst representatives in Congress. Senator Inhofe even wrote a book called The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future. I would be shocked if Tesla chose to build a factory there. If Musk visits Oklahoma, it's just as a negotiating tactic to get a better deal from Texas.

 

[ecospider5]

I feel tesla will need more than 4 factory locations in the US. So this could be in addition to everything else.

 

[Earthpower]

I didn't want to say it's a dumb state ... I feel for those prorenewables trapped there. I guess some might say my state is dumb, NC is a much better choice IMHO.

 

[Bigdog9586]

Tulsa has Elon Musk’s attention. The website tulsasaysyes.com enabled users to send a message aimed at the Tesla CEO on Twitter, encouraging him to build the automaker’s next factory in Tulsa. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt shared a tweet encouraging Oklahomans to help make “one final push.” “Let’s make Oklahoma Cybertruck country,” tweeted Stitt, who was...
[WPURI="https://teslamotorsclub.com/blog/2020/07/01/impressed-with-community-support-musk-says-he-will-visit-tulsa/"]READ FULL ARTICLE[/WPURI]

With all the racial hate there I’d stay away from there big time.

 

[FMinMI]

Oklahoma is one of the dumbest states in the country and has some of the worst representatives in Congress. Senator Inhofe even wrote a book called The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future. I would be shocked if Tesla chose to build a factory there. If Musk visits Oklahoma, it's just as a negotiating tactic to get a better deal from Texas.

Isn't Texas one of the states that still won't let Tesla sell directly to customers? And their reps are not much better regarding believing climate change (all the politicians are big supports of all the oil companies). Neither state seems to be the right one...

 

[TexasEV]

Corporate tax breaks cost U.S. schools billions of lost revenue: report

Corporate tax breaks cost U.S. schools billions of lost revenue: report

Alternate headline: Left-wing advocacy group opposed to tax incentives continues to claim that schools "lose" revenue that never existed .

 

[Centolam]

Tulsa has Elon Musk’s attention. The website tulsasaysyes.com enabled users to send a message aimed at the Tesla CEO on Twitter, encouraging him to build the automaker’s next factory in Tulsa. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt shared a tweet encouraging Oklahomans to help make “one final push.” “Let’s make Oklahoma Cybertruck country,” tweeted Stitt, who was...
[WPURI="https://teslamotorsclub.com/blog/2020/07/01/impressed-with-community-support-musk-says-he-will-visit-tulsa/"]READ FULL ARTICLE[/WPURI]

After being in Biotech in California, I came to Oklahoma 20 years ago and founded a biotech start-up, Crescendo Bioscience, and the company thrived (#1 in medicine on the Inc. 500 2014, #7 overall). Our success was due on large part to being in Oklahoma. The most impactful aspect was the presence of a highly trained and highly trainable employee pool. Just as importantly a common attribute of the individuals I hired were that they were fiercely loyal to the company. We became more like a family, focused as a team on the nurturing and growth of the enterprise. Counter that with the bay area where the average time a biotech employee stays at a biotech is 6 months so they can best leverage pay and status increases. Moreover, employees were highly motivated to learn new skills, this allowed me to build industry-leading capabilities, with individuals that had a vested interest in their success. Also of relevance is that the average salaries for tech jobs in Oklahoma are a fraction of what they are in the tech corridors. Moreover, the environment is extremely business friendly. There are state-funded programs available to help with every stage of a tech company’s growth including training, grants, networking, and even subsidizing interns from local universities. The cost of land, buildings, construction, and living is also a fraction of the tech corridors and major metropolitan areas. These lowered fixed costs were a key competitive advantage for us, facilitating our existence during the R&D phase, and helping us to maintain low costs and high margins as we matured. Tulsa, the potential Tesla site, is consistently on the top 10 lists of best places to live in the U.S., due in part to the low cost of living and its increasingly cosmopolitan feel, with a rich arts, dinning, and entertainment environment, and despite the disparaging comments above, a diverse and rich cultural landscape. I can’t speak from personal experience in regards to other competitive advantages specific to building a truck manufacturing plant, although it is of note that we are literally in the dead center of the country with among the most highly developed land-based transportation and distribution systems available in the U.S. and in our state in particularly, and several bordering it, trucks are extremely popular daily drivers.

 

[Garyranderson]

Giga factories get built in states without obscene tax structures, or hard freeze climate, near to raw material corridors, and to market, and with a workforce intellect greater than pigeons. But, the site providers all talk of their jobs and school funding, and the would be market all dream of cool personal starships costing pennies. Be assured, Tesla already has figured out HOW to make an electric chassis. They just need to quit toying with niche vehicles with a whistling teapot pricetag, and offer a great and lightweight and upgradeable cab n' chassis/cutaway, and let the hundreds of specialty vehicles finish them into RV's, ambulances, package lories, and people movers. If they don't command the market soon, the market will catch up and steal away whole sectors of what makes the world work! If you build it, they will come; and they will opt for motor wattage & range, loading dimension & weight ratio, and whether it needs to have an onboard tire compressor. Nicolai Tesla the man had the better system, but look who won the ultimate victory. There is ONE Tesla company, and dozens of vehicle makers out to make history fall their way. Will Tesla be a footnote or a stormtrooper?